The Hottest Gadget Out Of CES So Far Is This Android-Powered Handheld Gaming System

If you follow gadget-bloggers on Twitter like some of us do, then you know that the biggest hit out of this year's consumer electronics show in Las Vegas so far is something called the Nvidia Project Shield.

It's a hand-held gaming system – a modern day Gameboy, so to speak – powered by Google's mobile operating system Android.

We slot it in as a competitor to the iPod Touch for one segment of users: teenage boys.

The processor is capable of pushing 4K resolution video over HDMI to external displays. It includes advanced sound processing that Nvidia says rivals Beats Audio-equipped laptops, and a 33Wh battery that provides five to ten hours of play time or 24 hours of HD video playback. It features a 5-inch, 720p Retinal multitouch display with 294ppi pixel density, and has a slot for micro-SD card expansion. The Shield runs Android — pure Android without a skin, as Nvidia insists — and includes Google's apps for Gmail and the Play Store.

Big picture, this is another sign that one strength Android has over Apple's operating system, iOS, is that it can fit into all sorts of handheld gadgets – from phones, to tablets, to "phablets," to cameras, and now, to portable gaming systems.